Coming Home With New Perspectives and Values
Dr. Khalid Al-Seghayer, alseghayer@yahoo.com

When I decided to pursue my education abroad nine years ago, my father called me in to an important meeting on the night of my departure. He addressed me, saying, “Consider yourself an ambassador on behalf of your whole country and thus act accordingly.” He added: “I want you to seek every opportunity to learn what is good and tell people there by your actions how good we are.”

On my arrival in the Kingdom nine years later, the first questions my late father asked me were, “What have you learned over the course of the past years from one of the leading Western societies, and how are you going to benefit your own people from the seemingly good things you have learned?” I have been asked the same questions by my close friends, colleagues and relatives since I returned to the Kingdom.

My answer has always been that I have learned many positive things. Among these are retaining an open mind, respecting people other than my own and learning the art of argument.

Having an open mind was the first thing that I learned, and I will make an effort to convince my own people to make it part of their mindset. The importance of having such an attitude lies, in my view, in the fact that it makes you ready and willing to receive favorably any thoughts, attitudes and customs without prior judgment as to whether they are good or not.

Furthermore, open-mindedness does not limit your horizons to what is within your own reach. It allows you to accept what comes from your surroundings, and more precisely, the values with which you have been taught and raised. In addition, it is an avenue through which you can actively explore opportunities that are invisible to narrow-minded people.

I emphasize that I am not for acceptance of everything in an anarchistic revolution of morals and modes; rather it is not to limit our acceptance of others’ ideas to where our traits or experiences end.

This is a very nice article. In it, the writer tells of the important lesson he learned in an unnamed country. The name of the country is unimportant because what he describes is human, across most countries.

Sadly, that not always the case in Saudi Arabia, where xenophobia truly colors the way people interact.

It’d be great of Dr. Al-Seghayer can pass on some of what he’s learned, beyond his medical skills, to his patients.